Labour rights

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by a new bill that was illegally passed by the government in Pakistan in order to drag the country’s workers into conditions of slavery. The so-called Finance Bill is an unconstitutional law that severely undermines basic labour rights and flies against the basic principles […]

On June 21 the National Assembly passed the annual Finance Bill, with effect from July 1. Or did it? And what was it that was passed anyway?  By law, the Finance Bill is passed to establish the annual budget. It is limited to this specific purpose. It cannot change or amend other laws. And as […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2006 AS-155-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission CAMBODIA: Support for rights of workers to march On 20 June, Touch Naruth, the police commissioner of Phnom Penh, and Kuoch Chamroeun, governor of Meanchey district, led a mixed police force of 200 men armed with riot shields, truncheons and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the death of a female factory worker and the serious illness of another caused by diseases allegedly contracted at their work place and because of the inadequate medical treatment they received from their company’s medical services. On 15 June 2006 Carmen Mendoza, […]

The numerous appointments to key national commissions by the executive president, contravening constitutional requirements, are a very clear indication of Sri Lanka’s drift from a law-based society to one in which the law plays a significantly reduced role.  While criticism against presidential actions has pointed to matters including the fact that no person is above […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern over fears of a possible violent dispersal of factory workers on protest. Protesting workers of S. P. Venture Corporation, a Korean owned garment factory operating inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), have conducted a picket since 6 May 2006; a day after […]

PHILIPPINES: Torture; unfair labour practices; violence against women; excessive use of force in dispersal of protest; denial of medical treatment; arbitrary use of authority by police; possible delay in adjudication of cases —————————————————— Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about a violent dispersal of workers protesting inside the Cavite […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our local partner, the Peoples’ Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR), about bonded labour – effectively slavery – being practiced by brick kiln owners in Varanasi District, Uttar Pradesh state, India. Dozens of families have reportedly been bought for small amounts of money […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

[RE: UA-112-2004: BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished issued on 3 September 2004; UP-11-2005: BURMA: Four officials sentenced to prison for forced labour in Kawmhu Township, Yangon Division; UP-63-2005: BURMA: Local officials seek revenge against villager who obtained first successful forced labour prosecution; UP-68-2005: BURMA: Preliminary hearing against villager who obtained first […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is appalled by the serious threats made against the life of labour union leader, Enrico Estarez and his family. The threats were allegedly made by military officials Colonel Oliras and several men attached to the 24th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in […]

In recent weeks, there have been numerous protests by Korean farmers against the government’s liberalization policies. These have been dealt with by riot police in a brutal and violent manner, causing severe injuries. One farmer has even died due to the seriousness of his injuries: 43-year-old Jeon Young-Cheol died on November 24, 2005 after being […]

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Burma Lawyers’ Council (Thailand) and Yoma-3 news service that U Ohn Myint and Ko Khin Zaw, the two villagers jailed for criminal defamation after they had attempted to take complaints of forced labour to the courts, have been released.  According to the information received, […]

[RE: UA-112-2004: BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished issued on 3 September 2004; UP-11-2005: BURMA: Four officials sentenced to prison for forced labour in Kawmhu Township, Yangon Division; UP-63-2005: BURMA: Local officials seek revenge against villager who obtained first successful forced labour prosecution; UP-68-2005: BURMA: Preliminary hearing against villager who obtained first […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources about a sugar cane cutter losing his sight in one eye while working in the paddy fields that come under the Bardoli sugar factory in Surat District, Gujarat, India. In early March 2002, when Somabhai Shambhubhai Kotvalia, an adivasi (tribal person) […]